Nature lovers in the eastern U.S. and Midwest are feasting their eyes on an extremely rare sighting courtesy of Hurricane Idalia.
And thanks to their flamboyance, these flight feathers are hard to miss.
"We have never seen anything like this," said a stunned Jerry Lorenz of Audubon Florida.
Even though these creatures are somewhat synonymous with Florida, the Sunshine State is home to only 1 percent of the global population, with sightings of these iconic birds typically occurring in the Florida Keys, Biscayne Bay, and the Everglades.
So when reports flew in that flamingos were being spotted across Florida…and then into Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia…and up to Alabama, Kentucky, and Ohio…people could hardly believe their eyes.
"We will get a flamingo or two following storms [but] this is really unprecedented," Lorenz said. "It's just really surprising that if you follow the path of Idalia, it [the sightings] really does kind of fall out to the north and south of that central track."
One Ohio resident said he saw two of the birds at Caesar Creek Park Lake in southwest Ohio, "just hanging out and sleeping in about a foot of water near the shore" before a dog scared them away.
A pair of rare flamingos were spotted in Ohio pic.twitter.com/DJil7lhjYZ
— The Messenger (@TheMessenger) September 8, 2023
The birds were believed to have been flying across the Yucatan Peninsula when the storm blew them off course.
From Florida to Ohio, an unusual and beautiful sight has made its way to America: wild flamingos. @DavidMuir shares the story of how they made their way to the states from the Yucatan Peninsula. https://t.co/RDFgGsnUHZ pic.twitter.com/CNOzoH3vb8
— World News Tonight (@ABCWorldNews) September 7, 2023
Lorenz said that while "the birds are stressed right now" given the "terrible ordeal" they just went through, he was confident of their ability to find their way home, noting they can fly for thousands of miles.
